The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana missed out on an opportunity to rewrite the history books when they lost 2-1 to Sweden in the opening match of their Group G fixture in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup at the Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand this past weekend (Sunday, 23 July).
In that pulsating clash on a wet and gloomy night, the South Africans drew first blood but could not hold on to their advantage, allowing two goals from the Europeans – and suffered their fourth defeat in as many matches in a FIFA World Cup, following three successive losses in 2019 in France.
Left with two games in the group stages, Desiree Ellis’ charges still have a chance to enter the history books when they meet – for the first time ever – Argentina in their second match of the competition on Friday (28 July) in Dunedin.
The equation is simple for captain Refiloe Jane and company – win and stay in the tournament or lose and get ready to pack your bags.
“This is more than just historical, it’s a game we must win. Yes, it will be history when we win as it will be our first win (in a World Cup), but more than that it is our final, we cannot look any further than this game because anything else doesn’t matter at this moment. That game is the most important one. When we started here, we looked at Sweden, and the other two teams were not far off our minds – for now we have to face the task at hand, and that is Argentina,” said Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis.
“So, we have done what we needed to do in a very short space of time. We have a plan, and we need to execute it to get a positive result, but yes it will be history as it will give us the opportunity to fight to get into the next stage which is ultimately what we wanted to do when we got here.”
Banyana Banyana have come a long way since making their debut in a FIFA Women’s World Cup four years ago, where they got a baptism of fire.
They faced Spain, China and Germany – losing 3-1, 1-0 and 4-0 respectively. South Africa regrouped and managed to lift their maiden continental title last year, winning the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
“It might be our second World Cup tournament, but this team has matured so much over the last four years and gotten so much better mentally with all the challenges that we faced. The last WAFCON we lost Thembi (Kgatlana) and had covid in camp leading to the quarterfinal match – which was very tough. This team has fought through challenges – against Sweden it was the same thing, we are not used to playing in torrential rain, but I think we were brave, we were courageous and we stood up. And even though we lost, people saw the South African team and there is more that people haven’t seen and hopefully we can showcase that tomorrow,” added Ellis.
But the former Banyana Banyana captain is also aware that they will not have it easy against a side that is also looking to get back on track after going down 1-0 to Italy in their opening match.
What will perhaps spur the South Americans on is that their men’s team lost their first match in Qatar in the FIFA World Cup, but went on to lift the title.
However, the women’s team may not be of similar quality and history is not on their side in the competition. They have failed to progress from the group stages in all their three previous World Cup appearances, and are yet to win a single match in 10 games, where they lost eight and drew two.
But Ellis is not looking into stats and knows the quality that Argentina, ranked 28th in the world and third in CONMEBOL, can pose.
“We go into this game against Argentina with a mindset to not only win but also score goals to have any realistic chance (of staying in the tournament). We know a lot about Argentina, and we know it will not be an easy game because they can be physical. But we must make sure that we don’t concede first and do things a little differently than against Sweden where we didn’t protect the ball, and didn’t move much. We are aware too that Argentina also have to win, which makes this match potentially difficult, but if we play our game we will do well,” said Ellis.
Meanwhile, forward Hilda Magaia, who sat out Wednesday’s training session as a precaution, was back with her compatriots on the field on Thursday for the final preparations before they face Argentina. Magaia scored against Sweden but injured herself during that process and had to be substituted.
The two other Group G teams, Italy and Sweden, will do battle at the Wellington Regional Stadium on Saturday, 29 July.
(CentreCircle.online is at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup courtesy of Sasol, sponsors of Banyana Banyana)
